Chapter 28: Dry-Fried Shredded Cabbage

The heavy door slammed shut, finally giving those inside a moment to address what had just transpired.

Pang Cancan was the first to glare at Zhao Zhenyu, who lay sprawled on the ground, half-dead. "You actually had the nerve to come back?!"

The latter was clutching his arm in agony; a Tier 3 zombie had torn a massive chunk of flesh from it, and before long, a large pool of blood had gathered beneath him. Seeing this, everyone fell silent. Even if he were lucky enough not to be infected, Zhao Zhenyu was unlikely to survive long in their current state, lacking basic medical supplies.

Su Su watched the scene with cold eyes. "When you pushed me out there, did you ever think you would reap what you sowed?"

Her frigid voice and aloof demeanor made Zhao Zhenyu snap his head toward her. He stared intently at the woman who stood there completely unscathed. The events of the past few minutes flashed through his mind.

He gritted his teeth and hissed, "You have an ability! And it’s an ability that can control zombies! How long have you been faking it?"

This accusation was heard clearly by Lin Weiran and her group, who had just rushed over. Stunned gazes turned toward Su Su.

"You have an ability?" Lin Weiran gasped. "Impossible! If you had an ability, why have you never used it?"

Su Su remained silent. Her power had been too weak in the beginning, and Xiao Hei had not yet grown; it was better to hide her trump card and deliver a heavy blow to the malicious when the time was right. She knew she couldn’t hide it forever, and while exposing it now wasn't her intention, it mattered little.

As she offered no reply, Lin Weiran started to press further, but Si Zhe, standing beside her, suddenly spoke up: "It must have been awakened back at the small town."

Thinking back, Wu Zhi’s death was caused by that python... and on the outskirts of City C, when only Zhang Da, Zhang Er, and Su Su were present, had those two brothers really died at the hands of zombies? Was it possible they had died by Su Su’s hand, and that she had also taken the crystal from that escaping Tier 3 zombie?

The more he speculated, the closer he felt to the truth. Recalling that Tier 3 crystal—the one he had fought the town mayor tooth and nail for, only for it to end up in someone else’s pocket—he felt as though they had all been made into fools.

Lin Weiran clearly reached the same conclusion. The look she cast at Su Su became incredibly complex. "No wonder you suddenly insisted on going your separate ways. It turns out that ever since you gained an ability, you’ve been guarding yourself against us!"

These people were always adept at ignoring their own faults while pointing fingers at the selfishness of others. Su Su had grown weary of such interrogations. She let their words wash over her, neither confirming nor denying anything, and turned her attention back to the dying Zhao Zhenyu.

"You secretly opened the door, nearly killing me and everyone else in this gymnasium."

"I cannot let you stay here. Either you crawl out yourself, or I will throw you out. Make your choice."

Either way, his ultimate fate would be to die in the jaws of the zombies. Zhao Zhenyu spat out a large mouthful of blood. In this critical moment, he finally realized that the only people he could rely on were his former teammates. Only Lin Weiran and Si Zhe could save his life.

"Si Zhe, Weiran, for the sake of the long journey we’ve shared, please, save me."

He lowered his posture and looked utterly wretched, hoping to evoke the sympathy of his former comrades and make them forget that betrayal. Lin Weiran did feel a flicker of pity, but it was just that—a flicker.

She took a deep breath and turned her head away. "Zhenyu, regardless of anything else, you should never have opened the gym door."

If an accident had occurred and the back door hadn't been closed, a continuous wave of zombies would have poured in, and the entire gymnasium would have fallen! They would have faced a pincer attack, and all their resistance would have been in vain.

Lin Weiran had always been very clear-headed regarding such major issues. Yet, being so clear-headed only made her seem cold and heartless. A shadow of gloom crossed Zhao Zhenyu’s face, his eyes filling with deep-seated resentment. Still, he clung to a final shred of hope, pleading with Si Zhe, "Si Zhe, considering I was the first teammate to travel with you, save me, please, can’t you save me?"

Si Zhe looked at him with icy indifference. "We are no longer teammates."

From the moment Zhao Zhenyu betrayed them, all ties had been severed. That he hadn't sought revenge when they met again was already an act of mercy.

"Fine! Fine! Fine!" Zhao Zhenyu, completely disillusioned with the two of them, let out a miserable laugh. When he spoke again, his teeth ground together in hatred. "The fact that I’ve ended up like this is all thanks to you!"

Lin Weiran turned back, startled. "What do you mean by that?"

"If you hadn't been the first to discard your own cousin, would I have joined you in your hostility? Wu Zhi was killed because of her—if you hadn't been just as angry, would I have stepped up to offend people?"

"And you, Lin Weiran. We are both Tier 2 ability users; what makes you think you have the right to call the shots in this team? It’s only because I was willing to accommodate you! And why was I willing to accommodate you? Because you have a good boyfriend!"

"You ostracized your own cousin—wasn't it because she was prettier than you, and you were afraid that if you spent too much time together, your boyfriend would be stolen away? Everything that happened—if you hadn't willed it, if you hadn't watched with cold indifference, how would I have targeted an ordinary person with no abilities!"

Sentence after sentence, Zhao Zhenyu, realizing he could not escape his impending death, began to lash out, disregarding everything as he shifted the blame. Some of his words were exaggerations, and some... were deliberately spoken for Su Su to hear. He hoped to shift the conflict, to soften the heart of this young woman, and perhaps buy himself a chance to cling to life.

The result, however, was that Lin Weiran was incensed. "Zhao Zhenyu! What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"

Si Zhe’s face turned pitch black. "How petty."

The internal squabbling provided quite a spectacle for the others. Pang Cancan excitedly leaned toward Su Su. "Sister Su Su, is what he said true? Is Lin Weiran really targeting you because she’s worried you’ll steal her boyfriend? Did Zhao Zhenyu really bully you because they hinted at it?"

Su Su: "...What do you think?"

Pang Cancan rubbed her chin. "I think it’s ninety percent fake and ten percent true. Those two are so locked in with each other, they probably don't think anyone could take the other away. And Zhao Zhenyu—he just seems purely malicious; it doesn't look like he was being directed."

If a bystander could see the truth so clearly, how could Su Su not? Lin Weiran and Si Zhe hadn't directed Zhao Zhenyu to bully her; at most, they had known and chosen to ignore it. People in the apocalypse were inherently cold, and the two of them were simply the norm.

"Enough."

Su Su abruptly cut off Zhao Zhenyu’s dying struggles. "I’ll ask you one more time: will you crawl out yourself, or should I throw you out?"

Zhao Zhenyu’s accusations came to an abrupt halt. Realizing there was no turning back, he lifted his bloodshot eyes and glared at everyone in the room.

Su Su curled her lips. "It seems you’ve made your decision."

She looked at the two remaining Tier 1 ability users. They were Pang Cancan’s former teammates and Zhao Zhenyu’s former companions—incompetent and treacherous. "You two, throw him out. Otherwise, I’ll throw both of you out."

The threat made their legs go weak. One of them said cautiously, "There are zombies everywhere outside, if we open the door now..."

"I will control them."

The two looked at each other, recalling the scene they had just witnessed—hundreds of zombies standing like a clock stuck in reverse, briefly blocking the massive, surging horde behind them. Her words were surely true.

But... did they really have to do this?

While they hesitated, Pang Cancan roared, "If they don't want to, then forget it! Sister Su Su, I’ll throw all three of them out!"

Faced with the threat, the two immediately begged for mercy. "We’ll do it, we’ll do it!"

Afraid that if they were even a second slower they would be thrown out themselves, they hurried to Zhao Zhenyu’s side and lifted him together. The severely wounded Zhao Zhenyu was half-crippled and had no strength to resist; he could only let them do as they pleased.

"Brother, I’m sorry."

"If you want to blame someone, blame that cold-hearted woman. We were forced into this."

Pang Cancan shouted again, "What are you muttering about?"

The two didn't dare delay, trembling as they carried him to the door. Seconds before the chains were released, Zhao Zhenyu suddenly raised his head, his blood-filled eyes glaring at everyone inside.

*Creak.*

The door opened just wide enough for a person to pass through. The zombies blocking the door were indeed frozen in place, showing no signs of attacking. The two ability users didn't hesitate, and with a collective heave, they tossed Zhao Zhenyu out.

Manic laughter slipped through the closing crack of the door.

"You won't let me live! I won't let you have it easy either!"

"Just you wait! I’ll be waiting for you in hell!"

*Bang!*

*Thud.*

The former was the sound of the metal door slamming shut; the latter was the dull impact of a body hitting the ground. As pain spread throughout his body, Zhao Zhenyu, thrown into the midst of the zombie horde, watched in horror as the zombies—which had been standing perfectly still a second ago—began to "come alive" the moment the door closed.

They sniffed the air. The scent of a living human was right under their noses. Pairs of milky-white eyes instantly locked onto the fresh "food." Zhao Zhenyu watched as they bared their fangs at him.

His screams erupted uncontrollably.

No one saw the Tier 3 zombie that had bitten Zhao Zhenyu earlier drag his body along a path where the surrounding zombies had neatly and orderly cleared a way, disappearing into the very center of the horde.

"ROAR!!!"

A Tier 4 zombie, appearing to be in its fifties, pushed through the crowd and stepped out. Aside from its appearance, in terms of gait and posture, it was almost indistinguishable from a normal human.

The Tier 3 zombie respectfully laid Zhao Zhenyu flat on the open ground. The latter’s throat had been bitten through, his eyes wide open in an eternal, unfinished gaze, yet his body—unusually—had not been torn apart by the flesh-hungry zombies. It remained entirely intact, even down to his clothes.